This World of Gems
by Beem0b0t
Summary: Steven's having a pretty upsetting morning, but hey, If every pork chop was perfect, right?
1. Chapter 1

**My last little idea for a oneshot. I guess I apologize for the language, but come on. They've been THIS close to cursing before, so why not? Anyway, this one's a little longer than Time was but it's significantly... sadder? Steven's just not having a good morning. Enjoy and, please, review! Also ignore any typos and errors, I just wrote this and didn't really care about any of the errors at the time. I currently still don't.**

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There was a clatter. Steven woke up with a jolt to the sounds of yelling and large objects being move around… thrown around? He couldn't tell which in his early morning haze. Reluctantly he rolled over and looked at his Cookie Cat alarm clock and groaned lightly at the time. It was still dark out, but he wanted to hope that it wasn't too horribly early. The glowing numbers read 5:45 am and the clattering and yelling grew more and more loudly from the living room. Steven shifted out of bed and sat up, his legs dangling over the sides since he was not yet tall enough to touch the ground. He reached over for a shirt laying on the end of his bed and slipped it on before stepping onto the cool floorboards. He stepped hard on something solid and hissed at the pain shooting through his foot. Steven rubbed his eyes and glanced down to see what looked like a snapped handle for some kind of weapon. As the haze was clearing up he could begin to make out the words of Pearl and Amethyst who were yelling at each other. Again.

"Amethyst, how could you lose it!? It's quite literally a weapon of mass destruction! In the wrong hands it could very well be the doom of us all!" Pearl was emphatically scolding the shorter gem and rustling through many of the cubby holes and shelves under the stairs. Amethyst, on the other hand, was holding the couch over her head and preparing to chuck it across the room. Both of them looked seething mad from Steven's vantage point. "What does the stupid thing even LOOK LIKE!?" She yelled as she sent the couch flying into the kitchen. It crashed into the refrigerator with a loud metallic bang. Pearl hissed, "Would you PLEASE CONTROL YOURSELF!?" She then paused and recounted the details. A blue hologram began to form from Pearl's gem and Amethyst groaned. "Now. It's an obsidian handle with three gems lodged onto the tip. The obsidian alone will look broken and worn, but to the trained eye it is a weapon unlike any other. Those gems at the tip will gather an endless amount of light, and it will release all of that light in a compact blast when it is activated. It hasn't seen use since before the war! In fact we barely were able to steal it from Homeworld's army before they used it to wipe out Earth altogeth-" Amethyst groaned louder, "UGH! Enough with the history lesson, Pearl! We need to go and find that stupid thing before someone kills everyo-" Steven coughed and they both looked up to see him holding the object he stepped on when he woke up. Through half lidded eyes he had gotten a good enough look at the object in Pearl's hologram to know that they were one and the same. "Is this it?" He said, almost completely devoid of emotion other than sleepiness.

Pearl clapped her hands together and Amethyst cheered, "Way to go Steven!" Pearl climbed the stairs and delicately grabbed the dark handle from the young gem. "Wherever did you find it, Steven?" She appraised him for doing what the two Crystal Gems struggled with. Steven rubbed his eyes and walked down the stairs with them. Once he was at the door he said, "I stepped on it." As he predicted, Pearl's eyes went wide and she began to hyperventilate slightly, lapsing into a full on stutter filled panic attack. Amethyst started laughing hysterically at the show and the temple door opened just as Steven closed the door to the beach. "WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING!?" He heard Garnet yelling from outside. "It was just one of those days." He thought. He could hear a loud thud from inside and decided to distance himself from the house for a while.

As he reached the edge of the beach where the waves barely kissed the sand a crash sounded from behind him, breaking him from his peace. He looked back fast enough in time to see a small and intensely bright beam of light shooting from the temple's room. He followed the beam up as it shot through the sky and into space. The beam seemed to disappear and the world was silent for a minute. Immediately after Steven thought that nothing would happen and they completely overreacted about the weapon an incredible explosion of light erupted from the sky, lighting up the early morning, as though it were a cloudless midsummer afternoon, instead of a slightly cloudy spring morning. When the light finally cleared up Steven sighed and thought again, "Just another one of those days." It was too early for all this noise and craziness. "I'll need at least…" Steven thought for a second. "3 doughnuts!" He figured.

Steven began the trek for the Big Donut before realizing he was still in his pajama pants. Reluctantly he walked back up the steps into the temple, ignoring the arguing from his gem guardians, put on a pair of jeans, grabbed a little money, and walked back out the front door with a yawn. He strode across the beach and up the boardwalk and into the Big Donut, happy to see that Lars and Sadie had an early shift. "Hey gu-" "Lars, please, just…" Sadie held a hand to her forehead, pressing her fingers to the bridge of her nose. "Why are you being so DIFFICULT!?" Anger seethed through each word, and Steven finally saw Lars sitting with his back turned to Sadie holding a cup of coffee. "I get it! You're tired! it's early! But guess what!? EVERYONE UP THIS EARLY IS TIRED! YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY PERSON WHO'S TIRED, LARS!" Steven shrank back against the door, his words catching in his throat. Lars stood up and silently looked Sadie in the eyes. For once he said nothing, simply glaring into the blonde's eyes. Now it was her time to shrink down. She coughed and continued, "Look, I'm sorry for yelling, but come on! We have to work these early shifts or else we'll get a pay dock or worse! You can't possibly be that upset about working an early shift!? We've had early shifts before, Lars!" Lars scoffed and sipped his coffee with disdain, "You didn't hear what that asshole said to me, Sadie! He may address you with the kindness of the whole world, but I may as well be the scum of the Earth! I can't deal with that man, Sadie! I'd be long gone from this place if I could! Fucking beach City is so small Lord knows I couldn't get a job anywhere else!" Sadie sighed and watched as lars turned his back again. She put her hand on his back and tried to console him, "Lars, come on. We just gotta get used to it and get through it." Lars took another swig and shrugged, his face still dark with hatred. "He just likes you cause you're easy. We can't all be doormats like you." Sadie's face scrunched in anger. "You know what, Lars? Fu-" SLAM! The door shut heavily and both Sadie and Lars looked at the door. "Was that just Steven?" Sadie said, almost in disbelief.

Steven ran from the Big Donut as fast as he could, and he kept running until he found himself on the docks, looking out as the sun rose up slowly over a new day. Steven's eyes were wide and tinged with red. He took his ever present phone out of his pocket as it vibrated and played the regular ringtone that he had set for Connie. He answered the call, "Hello? Connie? It's really early, but how are you?" He asked eagerly, needing some kind of positive turn to the start of his day. Connie coughed sharply on the other end, "Steven. I know we planned to hang out later today, but I can't come. I don't think I'll be able to make it for a good chunk of the week after the weekend either…" She sounded hoarse and sad and the sheer force that Steven could feel she needed just to speak broke him inside. He hated to hear someone in pain and he hated it even more when it was someone he really cared about. "Well, that's alright! I just want you to get better! Don't push yourself for me! just focus on getting back on your feet, Connie!" Steven made sure to amp up the cheer in his voice. She giggled a little which quickly segued into a fit of coughing. "Thank you for understanding Steven. I'll try to get better soon, but for now my mom is coming up with soup for me! I'll talk to you later! Bye" Click. Steven held the phone to his ear for an extra minute, waiting to hear Connie's voice chime in again and say she was just kidding or something to cheer him up. All he could hear, however, was the waves sighing as they moved back and forth and the sound of tires coming to a stop. He didn't even turn to see who drove up.

"Hey champ." A voice came from behind. "What're you doing out this early? Aren't you a little young to pull all nighters?" Steven turned to see his father, Greg Universe, standing above him. "What, no laugh? Not funny enough for ya, eh? I guess it needed a bit more work. I'll get something better for ya." Steven turned his face to look out at the rising sun again and Greg could almost feel the sadness resonating off of his son. "What's wrong there, sport? Your day not start how you want it to?" Steven sighed, "The gems woke me up earlier. They were looking for some kind of super destructive gem weapon and Pearl and Amethyst started to fight like they usually do when they have to work together. I found the thingy for them and I left before things started to go really bad and when I got to the beach I guess they accidently caused it to go off?" Greg scratched his beard in thought, "So that's what that bright light was…" Steven continued, "Then I went to the Big Donut after the gems started fighting. I just wanted a couple donuts, but Lars and Sadie were fighting too. They were yelling and using horrible language and I just... " He paused for a minute. Greg started to rub his back gently, "It's alright, Steven. Not everyone has great mornings. I'm sure the rest of the day will go well. I mean, you've still got Connie, right?" Steven groaned and slumped even deeper. "Oh no. What happened?" Steven looked up at his father, tears welling in his eyes. "Connie's really sick. She sounded awful! I don't know why today is so horrible but I already want this day to be over."

Greg kept rubbing Steven's back as they sat in silence and looked out at the sea. Then, with a grunt, Greg stood up. "Well son, let me tell you something. I'm sure you've heard it before, but I think you need it most today." Steven looked up at his father who smiled warmly down at him. "Not every day can be an amazing one from start to finish. It's you who makes it amazing! Remember, if every pork chop were perfect…" He paused, gesturing at Steven with two fingers. Steven sniffed and giggled lightly, cracking a slight smile, "We wouldn't have hot dogs…" He finished. Greg ruffled the young gem's hair, forcing him to break out into a fit of giggles. Already he was starting to return to his old steveny self. "That's right!" He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, "And for what it's worth, you make my day every day, Steven. In this world of gems, there's no one like you." Steven stood up now, and rubbed his eyes. "Thanks, dad." He latched onto Greg tightly and Greg returned the embrace. "Any time, son."

"Should we say anything? He left rather quickly. We should make sure he's alright. Our fighting may have been too much for him. Oh, I knew I should have put that silly weapon somewhere safer! I should never had let you touch it, Amethyst! I hope Steven's fine." Pearl kept on yammering on as she paced back and forth from where they were standing. Garnet turned and began to walk back to the temple, followed quickly by Amethyst, who had duct tape wrapped around her head and covering her mouth. She looked at Pearl with mix of disinterest and frustration. "He'll be fine now Pearl. Today wasn't his best, but He'll be fine now. We need to keep a calmer house around him. He's a fragile one, like Rose. He hates to see us fight, and frankly we could stand to do less of it." Amethyst and Pearl looked up at Garnet unsure. Garnet's usually stoic face showed hints of being unsure as well. She sighed and rubbed her head, "We really have no idea what we're doing. I guess it's a good thing Greg's here. We can try to raise him to be a gem warrior all we want, but he's still human. We forget that sometimes." The tall gem laughed and Pearl and Amethyst exchanged worried glances. "There really is no gem like your little Steven, Rose. What have you done?" She began to walk to the temple again, as though she weren't just talking to herself. Pearl and Amethyst looked back at Steven and Greg sitting at the docks, both now laughing boisterously, and raced to catch up to Garnet.


	2. Chapter 2

**WELL! I had initially made this to be a oneshot, but decided that it needed a follow up chapter since the first was a little... sad...? I just don't like leaving Sadie, Connie, and Steven sad. Lars can eat a ween, but he's alright. That and I actually really like making the gems sad. Something about their rough and tumble, we're really powerful dudes and we've been around the block a bunch, attitudes makes them fun to break. Butidigress, Please enjoy and review! It means a lot to me!**

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"This day is mine…" Steven hesitated outside of the door. He didn't hear any more fighting from inside, but he'd been wrong before. "No!" He thought. "I will not let that stop me. This day is mine. This day is mine!" He shot his eyes open wide and burst through the door to the temple. "THIS DAY IS MINE!" He expected to see Amethyst and Pearl staring each other down, but instead he saw Garnet standing on a ladder, Amethyst holding it steady, and Pearl holding a box of tools. "Hello, Steven." Amethyst groaned, "Darnit Steven, we thought you were still with Greg! What are you doing back so soon!" Steven visibly cringed, thinking he wasn't wanted. Pearl smacked Amethyst upside the head and clarified, "What Amethyst means, Steven, is that we were trying to take advantage of this little hole in the roof to make something special for you. It was going to be a surprise!" Steven looked puzzled, but retracted his hand from the door. Garnet sighed, "It was going to be a skylight. Maybe even build into a second floor later if we had the time. Probably when you were asleep, but we wanted to get this done fast. For you. To make it up for how much we've been fighting and arguing ever since Peridot got away and Jasper and Lapis fused. We know it's been tense here but we-" Garnet stopped herself when Steven ran over and hugged Amethyst and Pearl, knocking Amethyst into the ladder and tipping Garnet over and behind the counter in the kitchen. "Ow." Came her deadpan response.

Steven was breaking into tears, but his wide smile revealed them to be tears of joy. He sniffed, but refused to talk, enjoying the silence for a bit. Pearl placed her hand affectionately on his head and ruffled his hair, mimicking the way Greg did it, and Amethyst began to rub Steven's back. "Thank you." He said. Garnet walked behind Pearl and Amethyst, smiling. She then clapped her hands together and said, "Alright, Steven, we're going to need you to go back out for now while we finish this up. It would be too dangerous having you in here. Okay?" Steven nodded, his face buried in Pearl's stomach. "Okay." came his muffled answer.

Steven pushed back out the door, rubbing his eyes. Today would be a good day. He all but promised it to himself. Steven reached into his pockets as he strode across the beach and realized he still had a little money in them. He also found a black ink pen and his phone. Looking up the boardwalk, he saw the Big Donut and got a wonderful idea. With a smile he walked into the Big Donut, ignoring That Lars was hunched over the coffee machine, cleaning it and grumbling minor curses to himself. He happily walked up to Sadie at the counter and paid for three donuts. "Hey Steven. How're you today?" Steven smiled and said, "I'm fine, but I'm more worried about other people today! Everyone needs a good day, so I'm going to spread my happiness to everyone who needs it!" All the while as he was talking he was writing something on the brown paper bag that held his donuts. Then he reached in and took out one, leaving the other two and the bag on the counter. "See ya Sadie!" He turned and walked for the door, waving at Lars. "See ya, Lars! Have an awesome day!" Lars looked over at Steven, but didn't take the time to reply, simply shrugging off the farewell.

Lars walked behind the counter again, having finished with the coffee machine. "What was that all abou- hey, what's up?" Sadie was looking at the bag and reading what was written on it

 _"Thank you, both of you, for being so awesome! I've been coming here long enough to find out what you two like, and I know that your boss doesn't let you guys take donuts when you want or buy them on the job so I bought you guys donuts instead! Enjoy!" - ~Steven~_

Sadie looked up at Lars and Lars returned the look. They opened the bag and inside were two different donuts. Lars took one out and stared at it, "It's my favorite kind." He said, awestruck. Sadie took the other and replied in kind, "Mine too." They both looked at the door. "Steven is one strange kid." Lars said. He bit into the donut happily, "But he's alright, I guess." Sadie smiled up at Lars and began to enjoy her own donut.

Steven's smile was wider than it had been in a long time. "What else can I do?" He mused. then another excellent idea came to mind. He was going to see Connie later, but she was sick. What if HE went to go see CONNIE! "It's genius." He thought. "But I'll need entertainment!" With that Steven ran back to the temple and stopped at the door. He took a breath and opened the door slowly. The gems were still working on the roof so they hadn't noticed him yet. As stealthily as he could manage he snuck through the door and walked up the stairs to his room. He stuffed a number of board games into his cheeseburger backpack. He then strapped it onto his back and walked back out as quietly as possible. He grabbed the door handle and heard, "Be safe, Steven. Have fun." Steven tensed and chuckled, "Haha, thanks Garnet!"

Steven let out a breath and smiled, "Today is gonna be great!" He paused. "But how am I going to get there…?" Steven felt something push him from behind. He turned and saw Lion sitting patiently behind him and smiled again, "Lion! Perfect! You can take me to Connie!" He climbed up onto Lion's back and pointed in a random direction, "Onward to Connie's house!" He yelled. Lion roared in front of them, opening a pure white portal and ran through it. As they came out the sound of waves and seagulls traded in for the sound of a slight breeze and birds chirping. Steven looked up and saw Connie's house, along with the other houses beside it, in front of him. He gulped and dismounted Lion. "Alright Lion. You wait here and stay out of sight. Try not to cause too much trouble alright? I'll be back…" Steven looked at his phone and frowned. "Eventually." With that lion sat down at the side of Connie's door and Steven mustered the courage to knock.

A knock came at the door, but Connie ignored it as she was still bed ridden. Her throat felt awful and her head was spinning. She had never felt so bad before, but the thing that hurt the most was that she hadn't been able to hang out with Steven. She knew she wasn't pretending when she heard tears in his voice when she called. Connie sighed and took a sip of the hot tea that her mother brought up to her. She heard voices downstairs and a door close, but the voices remained. "Who's here?" She thought. "Oh no, did my mom call a doctor or something?" Connie groaned and then coughed, causing her to groan again. She heard a knock on her own door this time and expected her mother and a doctor to walk in. However, much to her surprise Steven walked in with her mother. She looked over and smiled as she saw Steven enter her room, "Steven! What are you-" She paused to cough. "doing here!?" Steven smiled and answered, "I figured that since you couldn't come to my house that I'd come here! I brought a bunch of board games and everything! This was we can hang out just like we'd planned to!" Steven turned to check something, and Connie glanced at the door with him. Her mother was no longer at the door, she probably went to get snacks for Steven or something.

Steven turned back around and sidled closer to Connie. He held his hand over his mouth and whispered, "Does it hurt anywhere specifically?" Connie was confused for a second, but complied. "My throat is sore and I feel really dizzy and hot, but whenever I get out of bed I start to feel really cold and even when I'm under the covers I shiver and cough!" Steven thought about the information for a second before coming to a conclusion. "I'm gonna try to heal you like I did your vision, okay?" Connie's eyes went wide at the idea, "Steven that's-""Shhh!" He looked over at the door again but saw no one. "Okay, I don't know how much time I have, but going off what you said, I'm gonna assume I'm going to want to heal your throat and maybe your forehead!" Steven then licked the palms of his hands and Connie shuddered as she remembered his source of healing. "This... may feel weird." He said as he looked his hands. He brought his palms to Connie's throat and head, but pulled back in a hurry as he heard feet climbing the stairs to her room. Connie pulled a cover back over her neck and Steven went about pulling his cheeseburger backpack off and tossing it to the floor.

Mrs. Maheswaran rounded the corner with a plate of sandwiches and two cups, one of apple juice and the other of piping hot tea. "I thought we could play Citchen Calamity or maybe Settlers of Candy Land first! Those games usually take my mind off anything when I play with the gems!" Steven flawlessly worked up a facade to cover up his previous intentions. Connie was stunned at how seamlessly he stitched together this turn of attention so quickly. "I hope you don't mind apple juice, Steven." Connie's mom said as she set the plate down on a nightstand. Steven nodded, happily taking the glass. "It's very kind of you to come see Connie since she couldn't come see you. If there's anything either of you need just call. I need to attend to something really quickly." With that she rushed out of the room. Connie sat up and was smiling widely, "Steven, that was awesome! You haven't had to do that before, have you?" Steven shrugged as he pulled out Citchen Calamty, "Not really. The gems tend not to pry on things that I'm doing unless I'm staying up too late or being too loud. I just really wanted to play some ga- hey. you're not coughing! Did it work!?" Stars sparkled in the young gem's eyes and Connie giggled. "Well I'm not dizzy, my fever went down, and it doesn't hurt my throat to talk anymore so what do you think?" She teased. Steven laughed and started to set up the boardgame on Connie's bed.

They played endlessly, pushing through game after game, for hours. At some point they even got Mrs. Maheswaran to join in on a game of Settlers of Candy Land. At another Connie's mom let them watch Under the Knife since Connie was 'sick' and asked nicely. That, and Steven was very hard to say no to when he put on his puppy dog eyes. Soon, however, night fell and the moon was high. It was time for Steven to leave. With a reluctant smile that turned into a knowing grin and a wink Steven left Connie's room, tossing over his shoulder, "I hope you feel better soon Connie!" The girl giggled and shook her head. "Very subtle, Steven." She thought. At th door, Connie's father stopped him and offered a ride home. Steven instead smiled and said, "That's okay. I got here myself and I can get home fine! thank you, though!" He turned and walked onto the driveway of the Maheswaran's and started to call out, "LION!" But before he could even finish the word he felt a familiar bump from behind. He turned and rubbed the pink lion's nose playfully, laughing all the while as Mr. and Mrs. Maheswaran stared on, dumbstruck. With a final wave, Steven and lion walked through another white portal, appearing just in front of the temple. Connie looked out of her window just in time to watch them disappear. She started to lay back down, but stopped at the sound of crinkling paper. She reached behind her and pulled out a piece of paper, a card from Settlers of Candy Land that read, "Strawberry Jam" Connie smiled and placed the card on the headboard of her bed. "Oh, Steven."

With a smile, Steven walked with Lion up the wooden stairs. "Today was a good day, Lion. I got to help a lot of people today. Everyone needs someone on their side every now and then, y'know?" He opened the door to find the house completely empty and the roof about the same as it was before the hole was made. No skylight like the Gems talked about. He was a little sad, but that wasn't going to get him down. "They probably set up a different surprise since I found this one out so easily." Steven sai to Lion more as a reassurance to himself. He yawned and scratched his stomach, taking precious care to avoid the large rose quartz gem on his belly. With a final pat on Lion's nice Steven scaled the stairs to his room and began his goodnights, "Good night dad. Good night Connie." A yawn. "Good night Lion. Good night G-" He paused and looked back to where the hole had been earlier that morning. He heard a click and the part of the roof began to open up, revealing a glass pane that beautifully let the moonlight shine into the house. Steven smiled and continued, "Good night Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl. See you all..." He yawned again and closed his eyes, drifting off into sleep. "...in the morning..."

Garnet looked at Amethyst and Pearl and nodded her approval. Amethyst was sitting on the warp pad now and Pearl was standing just to her side, holding a small device with two buttons on it. "Do you think we did good? For him?" Pearl questioned quietly. Amethyst hummed softly to herself, as if contemplating the answer. Garnet looked over her shoulder and up to Steven's room, "It's a start." She walked back to the temple door and paused. "All this time we've been trying to train Steven and it turns out he's been training us as well. We never would have been able to feel like this for any other person. I want both of you to think about that. About how far we've come." Amethyst sighed and smiled wistfully, "He's a special kid. He needs extra care, and honestly that's way more than we can provide sometimes. Some days it's just too much to even see him, but we get through the pain. Sometimes the pain is worth seeing him smile, though. I think that's what keeps us going, you know?" She looked up at her companions and felt her face flush from their expressions. Pearl began to tear up and turned her face. Garnet on the other hand let her mouth hand slightly slack. "What!? I'm not a complete goofball! I know when to take things seriously, guys!" Garnet adjusted her glasses. "Sorry, I just..." She paused and turned to the door again, "wasn't expecting that from you. I'll see you in the morning. I have something I need to do." Amethyst saluted in an over the top manner, "Will do, G-Squad!" With that the temple door shut and Amethyst flumped onto the couch. It didn't take long however for her to become annoyed by Pearl's sniffling. "Pearl." She mused. the lithe gem stiffened and rubbed her eyes. "...Yes?" Amethyst hissed a little at what she was going to offer, but went through with it anyway. "Do you... want to watch Steven? Maybe just for a bit?" A smile grew on Pearl's face, despite her knowing it bothered Steven to wake up with her watching him. "I'd like that."

They climbed the stairs, softly, and sat down at the edge of his bed. The moonlight glinted through the windows and the skylight at just the perfect angle to shine over Steven and refract off of the gem barely sticking out of his shirt. Pearl got up and pulled the wrinkled blanket over the young gem and sighed, "So tired. He must have had a pretty busy day." Amethyst shrugged, "Pretty rough, too." Pearl sat down, her legs crossed, and absentmindedly rested her head on Amethyst's felt her face flush again, but ignored it and coughed softly. "He truly is special. There's no one quite like him." She sighed softly, small tears welling in her eyes again. Amethyst nudged her head and said, "Hey if you're gonna cry on me then get a new pillow for the night."

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 **For the record, while I may ship Amethyst and Pearl this was not meant to be a shippy ending. Just a simple thing I thought would be really cute and/or heartwarming. And I liked it so there it is. btw Garnet's totally in her feelsies eating ice cream in the burning room right now tbh. - Beem0b0t ;D**


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